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Bioshock Infinite Clash in the Clouds Guide
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Chris Lee's
Bioshock Infinite Clash in the Clouds Guide v1.2
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The officially latest (as well as latest, official) version of this FAQ/Guide
can be found at www.gamefaqs.com.
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Table of Contents !-
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To navigate to the different sections, simply use the shortcut key sequence to
the right of each section/subsection in whatever "find" mechanism you're using
in your browser or text editor. Section references later on in the text ignore
the '!' so that you don't end up jumping to the middle of a random paragraph,
so always be sure you start with a '!' when jumping around.
The pattern behind shortcut key sequence is simple: the first three letters
(more, if necessary to be unambiguous) of each related section, separated by
commas, beginning with a ! and ending with -.
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How To Use This Guide !how-
Important Notes !imp-
Infusions !imp,inf-
Blue Ribbon Wording !imp,blu-
Vigor Tactics !imp,vig-
Weapons of Note !imp,wea-
Gear of Note !imp,gea-
Arenas !are-
The O.P.S. Zeal !are,the-
Duke & Dimwitt Theater !are,duk-
Raven's Dome !are,rav-
Emporia Arcade !are,emp-
Appendix !app-
History !app,his-
All Works !app,all-
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How To Use This Guide !how-
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This guide is focused on strategies, suggestions, and analysis for blowing
through the Clash in the Clouds DLC for Bioshock Infinite, Blue Ribbon
challenges included.
Alas, you may find that some of the guide is sparse in its analysis. That's
because I've already done an extensive amount of analysis in my 1999 Mode
Guide (also available on gamefaqs.com), and I don't care to create a lot of
redundant content.
So, consider this and my 1999 Mode Guide companion pieces. The damage numbers
will be slightly off in the 1999 Mode Guide (since Clash in the Clouds
effectively takes place on "medium" difficulty), but since the arena action in
CITC is so intense, a similar emphasis on survivability also exists, so the
general analysis is still spot-on. I highly recommend referring to at least
the Vigor and Gear section of the 1999 Mode Guide; I have a lot of detailed
analysis that will suit you quite well in Clash in the Clouds.
NOTE: this guide is written taking into without any of the
pre-order/collector's edition extra content taken into account.
If you have any tips, feedback, or corrections, feel free to contact me. As
people who have contacted me on other guides know, I try to respond to any
correspondence, and I will take seriously any suggestions you may have to
offer. Simply toss me an email at (with the subject beginning "Bioshock
Infinite guide"):
s___i_m___u_l__c_r_a@uchicago.edu
WITHOUT the underscores (that's just to prevent auto-parsers from grabbing my
email for spam purposes).
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Important Notes !imp-
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Infusions !imp,inf-
Unlike the normal game, there are 28 infusions in all, not counting the initial
infusion that grants you a Shield. You get an infusion after beating every
other wave, starting with wave 1 and except for wave 15 (since you don't return
to your restocking room after beating the final wave). In other words, you'll
get an infusion after beating the following waves: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13.
This means you are _guaranteed_ to max out one stat after beating all the
arenas, but then you have to decide what to do with your two other stats, and
this boils down to your playstyle. If you like abusing the Urgent Care Gear
and Return to Sender synergy (see 1999 Mode Guide for discussion), then you
probably want to max out your Salts, Shield, but then get only 8 infusions in
Health. If you want to do a better job of withstanding powerful handyman hits,
then perhaps max Health and Shield, but only 8 Salts. Or perhaps if you like
using Vigors but just want to be overall balanced, max Salts but then 9 Health
and Shield.
For reference, here are the stats and the relative effect of each infusion (see
1999 Mode Guide for a greater discussion and where these numbers came from):
Health - base 1500, each infusion adds 225
Shield - base 300, each infusion adds 45
Salts - base 100, each infusion adds 15
In general, my recommendation is the same as in my 1999 Mode Guide: since
survivability is paramount in CITC (since dying automatically means forfeiting
the Blue Ribbon challenge and your current score), I recommend starting off by
investing in your Health and Shield regardless of whatever your final strategy
is.
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Blue Ribbon Wording !imp,blu-
You might quickly realize that some of the Blue Ribbon challenge wording can be
very tedious, as you may find yourself failing a challenge after doing
something innocuous. To help you out, here are some notes about what certain
phrases mean.
1. "Defeat [some enemy] with [something]"
This means that your finishing blow on [some enemy] must be that
[something] and it must be that [something] unassisted. In some cases it is OK
to use other Vigors or weapons so long as the death blow is unassisted, e.g. if
you were suppossed to defeat an enemy with a shotgun and you killed an enemy by
hitting them with Shock Jockey and then shooting with a shotgun, you will still
fail the challenge because the Shock Jockey was still active at the time of
death. However, in some other cases _any_ alternate use of a weapon or Vigor
on an enemy will cause you to fail the challenge. If you want to be extra-sure
about passing the challenge, don't risk it and just use the [something]
exclusively; I'll try to highlight when it's safe to use support stuff in the
actual arena discussions.
Note that certain Gear provide extra effects that can cause failure; using
sky-hook alone is guaranteed to fail (well, or at least at 30% per pop) if you
use it with the Spare the Rod gear, which possesses at 30% chance. When in
doubt, strip down to Gear that provides minimal extra effects.
Regardless of anything else, the blue shield of Return to Sender is always
safe to use (since it doesn't affect anyone else). The orange shield, on the
other hand, is not; even if you never hit anyone with the orange shield, for
some reason when you absorb a bullet with it the game treats it as if you tried
to defeat an enemy with something else other than [something].
2. "Defeat/Complete the wave using only [something]"
A much more restrictive version of #1. While in #1 you were (sometimes)
free to use other weapons and Vigors so long as your death blow was an
unassisted use of that [something], the use of the phrase "the wave" instead of
a specific type of enemy or even the phrase "all enemies" means the _moment_
you do anything other than [something] you will fail the challenge, this even
counts extra Gear effects like Shock Jacket.
Unlike #1, Return to Sender is _never_ a viable option. The moment you pop
out that blue shield you will fail the challenge.
3. "Vigor traps"
This one will give you a bit of a headache. Turns out the game has a very
strict definition of what constitutes a "trap." Obviously, neither Undertow
nor Charge have trap effects. But even Vigors that have an alternate effect
that is a trap _must_ be used in specificion fashion for it to be counted as a
trap: the alternate effect must _not_ immediately impact a target (i.e. the
projectile has to hit a surface) and it _must_ settle in before being triggered
by an enemy (i.e. immediate proximity detonations don't count).
In effect this is the difference between a "kill" and a "trap kill"; while
in the normal game you still got the effects of the alternate effect even if it
triggered immediately (due to immediate impact or immediate proximity trigger),
Clash in the Clouds will _not_ consider it a trap kill (or even the use of a
trap) unless the alternate effect physically was able to turn into a trap that
was then _later_ triggered by an enemy wandering into its proximity.
Do note that pulling someone into a trap via the Undertow alternate effect
counts as a trap kill, so this can be an easy way to qualify for this
requirement.
4. "...with/using a different weapon or Vigor..."
Using a different weapon on each enemy is straightforward enough, but toss
in Vigors and things start to get hairy. If you disable two enemies with Shock
Jockey, does it matter that you use two different weapons to kill each one? Or
are both deaths considered to be the same Shock Jockey death?
Specific advice: kill one enemy with a Devil's Kiss, another by blasting
them off with Undertow (or electrocute a Patriot with Undertow), another with
Possession's suicide (hopefully they don't kill off someone else and trigger a
redundant weapon kill), another with Charge, another by hitting with a
powered-up alternate effect Return to Sender, and one more by pulling someone
into a Shock Jockey trap via Undertow.
After those variety Vigor kills, just use different weapons, using Shock
Jockey, Murder of Crows, or Bucking Bronco as (relatively safe) ways to weaken
hordes of foes. Killing an enemy with your sky-hook also counts as a different
weapon, and killing an enemy by using your sky-hook (though not Charge) to
knock someone who's been lifted by Bucking Bronco off the map counts as yet
another kill (a generic "Freefall" death). Combined with the above, this
should give you all the methods you need to clear a wave without repeating a
specific type of kill.
If you're curious, here are some general guidelines I've developed that
determine how certain deaths are treated:
A. Sky-hook melee kills are different from Charge kills (even though both
use your sky-hook); in fact, Charge definitely counts as a Vigor death
not a weapon death.
B. Suicide deaths from a terminated Possession count as a death from the
weapon the enemy is wielding, but it also counts as a Possession death,
so depending on the specific nature of the challenge you're up against,
repeatedly possessing enemies may or may not be a good idea.
C. Death by knocking an enemy off Columbia with Undertow is the only way
I've found to kill a humanoid in a way that reliably counts as
"Undertow." Patriots and automatons, of course, can be manually
blasted with Undertow for severe damage.
D. Death by Shock Jockey + Undertow is considered a Shock Jockey death.
Similarly, pulling an enemy via Undertow into any damaging trap will be
treated as a death by that Vigor (and not necessarily a trap), not
Undertow.
E. An enemy shot to death by a weapon killed while vulnerable by Bucking
Bronco, Murder of Crows, or Shock Jockey will generally count as a
death by the weapon, not the Vigor (which means that unlike Possession,
this does not count as a death by Vigor). However! Be careful, aside
from Bucking Bronco, disabling Vigors actually do a token amount of
damage, and it is possible that your foe will be killed by a tick of a
damage over time effect from the Vigor. You can generally sidestep
this by immediately blasting the vulnerable enemy with a high-impact
weapon.
F. Generally speaking, a death by Devil's Kiss is a death by Devil's Kiss,
regardless of if and how the enemy has been set up for this.
G. In short, the following Vigors can be used to set up distinct deaths:
Possession, Devil's Kiss, Shock Jockey (if you pull someone into a trap
via Undertow), Charge, Undertow (via freefall or blast against an
automaton), and Return to Sender's alternate effect. Bucking Bronco
and Murder of Crows can virtually never be used to kill enemies, though
it is possible to kill an enemy via Murder of Crows's token damage,
however unlikely.
H. Lastly, there are some waves that are simply "using a different
Vigor." This is more "forgiving" in the sense that if, for example,
you hit an enemy with Shock Jockey and kill them with a weapon, it'll
count as a valid Vigor kill, not a weapon kill. However, if it's a
wave that is "using a different weapon or Vigor" then you have to be
careful; the above rules apply.
5. "Defeat... while distracted by a Booker decoy."
Ugh, a super annoying restriction. An enemy is distracted if it is trying
to attack the decoy. For some enemies it's fairly obvious to tell when they're
distracted (Patriots will approach, look at, and try to strafe the decoy in
addition to firing). Some enemies it's harder: snipers are only distrated
momentarily since they can generally kill the decoy pretty quickly; your best
is to hide behind some cover, create the decoy, and kill the sniper and hope
that they were distracted in the meantime. For one type of enemy, death while
distracted is virtually impossible: handymen can plow down a decoy in about
half a second, which leaves you very little margin of error. If you kill an
enemy even 10 microseconds after the decoy is destroyed, that death counts as
one that did not occur "while distracted" and so you will fail the challenge.
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Vigor Tactics !imp,vig-
Devil's Kiss
In my 1999 Mode Guide I rate this Vigor as generally underpowered if it's
unupgraded. But that's for 1999 Mode where there's a universal 50% damage
penalty for everything you do. In CITC (which effectively is on "medium"
difficulty where everything does normal damage), Devil's Kiss is great even
unupgraded, and absolutely bonkers once upgraded. Combined with gear like
Storm or Overkill or prep Vigors like Murder of Crows and Bucking Bronco
(both of which combo Devil's Kiss) and even Shock Jockey (which has a Storm
synergy with Devil's Kiss) you can wipe out massive groups of foes with
little effort.
Undertow
"Defeat the wave within [some time]." That is what Undertow is made for.
Fully upgrade Undertow, find a spot near a railing, grab up to three foes
with the alternate effect, pull them in, then circle around them and blast
them with the primary effect to blow them into freefall.
In fact, because you are replenished with full Salt in between each
wave and because all arenas are filled with edges and endless falls,
aggressive Undertow abuse is a great way to rapidly clear most waves.
Return to Sender
Return to Sender's protection will block literally everything in the game,
even Handymen attacks. Get Send For Less and this Vigor will give you
plenty of time to set up attacks and figure out Blue Ribbons without any
problem.
Do note that Sender Aid has very specific requirements before you
actually replenish ammo, and because you can fill up on ammo in between
each wave, you can wait to purchase this upgrade last. For full details
refer to my 1999 Mode Guide, but here's the too-long-didn't-read version:
1. You only absorb ammo with your blue shield.
2. You have to the same weapon out as the enemy shooting you.
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Weapons of Note !imp,wea-
Hand Cannon
Great in 1999 Mode (through various metrics in my 1999 Mode Guide I rated
it as the most effective "close-up" weapon in the game), even better in
CITC. While you miss out on the potential spread of the shotgun, you get
better accuracy, an insane critical hit multiplier (x3, better than a
sniper rifle), a bigger clip, and a faster reload time. And because your
reserve is fully replenished in between waves (be sure to reload your
weapon before returning the armory), you'll virtually never be unable to
fire away.
Repeater
If you've never played much with the repeater, you're missing out. This
was also a recommended "close-up" weapon from my 1999 Mode Guide and for
similar reasons to the hand cannon (you are no longer are concerned with
ammo scarcity) becomes insanely great in CITC. Features high accuracy
(almost good enough to snipe with), a really high damage output, a
surprisingly high critical hit multiplier (2x versus the 1.5x norm for
other heavy-hitting or rapid-fire weapons), and for those who have trouble
aiming, has the benefit of being an automatic weapon to give you a margin
of error to improve your aim while aiming instead of just missing
completely (as you would with a slower, single-shot weapon like a hand
cannon).
Hail Fire
I recommended staying away from this weapon in my 1999 Mode Guide despite
its other merits because of the rarity of the ammo. But, because you
basically are replenished to full ammo in-between each wave (or more
accurately, your reserve is maxed out), there is almost no reason to _not_
always have the hail fire as one of your two weapons.
By far, the best feature of the hail fire is not that you can do some
tricky explosion triggering by holding down the fire button, but that you
can rapidly mash your fire button and fire highly-damaging explosive shells
potentially faster than even a repeater can fire bullets.
With proper disabling Vigors, you can actually wipe out Handymen and
faux-Lady-Comstocks in a matter of mere seconds. Highly recommended.
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Gear of Note !imp,gea-
I provide my 1999 Mode Guide tier ranking as a reference point to the ranking
in Clash in the Clouds to help provide an analytical context.
Storm (hat)
1999 Mode Guide tier ranking: Middle
vs Clash in the Clouds: Top
Discussion: Because Devil's Kiss is much better in the CITC (no 50% damage
penalty as in 1999 Mode), the "chain" effect of Devil's Kiss from Storm
also becomes dramatially better. If you prep enemies with Shock Jockey
or Bucking Bronco, both of which are also chained by Storm (Bucking
Bronco also has its own combo with Devil's Kiss) you can easily wipe
out an entire wave's worth of foes if they were close enough. And
remember that Storm also chains the explosion of an RPG and the shots
of a heater, so if you like using either weapon a lot in CITC you
should see their effectiveness ramp up dramatically.
CAREFUL though! On waves where the Blue Ribbon challenge requires
you to defeat enemies in a certain way, the chain effect from Storm
will frequently cause you to fail the challenge, so be sure to switch
out this hat for something more inoccuous.
Blood to Salt (shirt)
1999 Mode Guide tier ranking: Top
vs Clash in the Clouds: Middle
Discussion: At first I thought this Gear was really great in CITC, but
then I realized two things:
1. Your Salt is always fully replenished in between waves.
2. When I was using the Gear I was leaving a lot of in-map Salt
supplies untouched.
So, this Gear is good early on when your Salt isn't very well-infused
or in specific Blue Ribbon waves where a heavy Vigor usage is expected
(such as when you're expected to kill everyone using only Vigors), but
otherwise use something else.
Death from Above (boots)
1999 Mode Guide tier ranking: Bottom
vs Clash in the Clouds: Middle
Discussion: the plethora of sky-lines in the vast majority of all waves in
addition to the fact that your explosive weapons will always have their
reserves replenished in between waves means that for aggressive
sky-line riders, this Gear is just a flat +30% damage boost to already
insanely powerful weapons like the RPG. A great way to rapidly clear
out Firemen and Handymen from safety.
Vampire's Embrace (boots)
1999 Mode Guide tier ranking: Middle
vs Clash in the Clouds: Top
Discussion: every arena features lots of hooks and sky-lines and sky-line
strikes count as melee kills, so Vampire's Embrace now basically
transforms all those one-hit-kills into "also get a small health kit."
In addition, there are a lot more environmental hazards, which
also--oddly enough--count as melee kills. Basically, this Gear will
dramatically improve your longevity in any given wave.
Overkill (pants)
1999 Mode Guide tier ranking: Top
vs Clash in the Clouds: Bottom
Discussion: The horrible, horrible mega failing of this Gear in CITC is
that the Overkill effect (which, unlike Storm, can be triggered by
basically anything so long as it was a sufficiently damaging killing
blow) can and will disqualify you from completing many different Blue
Ribbon challenges in the game. Compared to the fact that Urgent Care
also goes in your pants slot and is more generally useful without
disqualifying you from Blue Ribbons, this mighty bit of Gear in 1999
Mode has fallen far.
Urgent Care (pants)
1999 Mode Guide tier ranking: Top
vs Clash in the Clouds: "OMG, why did they include this?"
Discussion: Once you get it, there's basically no reason to ever use
anything else in this slot ever again. The survivability increase is
just an entire order of magnitude.
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Arenas !are-
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I'll focus on both what you should expect to fight, your blue ribbon challenge,
and what strategies will help you win the day.
Note that, especially for the first couple of arenas, you shouldn't be too
concerned with trying to make it through all the Blue Ribbon challenges without
failing, simply because you probably won't be fully upgraded yet so you will be
both fragile and weak. Come back to them later.
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The O.P.S. Zeal !are,the-
A fairly straight-forward map. The office door is pointed out to you the first
time you play this arena, but in case you forget: the center part of the map
is a ship of sorts; off its starboard side (if you're on the crow's nest and
looking towards the front of the ship, that's to your right) there's a building
that has two balcony levels. On the lower balcony level is where you'll find
your resurrection office.
Wave 1
Enemies: 5x soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using Sky-Line strikes only
Discussion: Straightforward and easy; just keep mounting on to the skyline
or hooks and jumping off. So long as you don't stay in one place for
long, you should be able to do this without taking much (or any)
damage.
Wave 2
Enemies: 6x soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave while only taking shield damage
Discussion: Also fairly straightforward, though you may have better luck
after you've upgraded your Shield stat a few times via infusions.
You're dealing with basic soldiers here, so as long as you keep aware
of the melee guys who want to charge you (and can easily take away your
entire shield with one hit at low Shield upgrade levels) you should be
fine.
Wave 3
Enemies: 5x soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using only the Sky-Hook attacks and Shotgun
Discussion: Pretty much not that harder than wave #1, since sky-line
strikes count as sky-hook attacks. You can also run around with the
shotgun, though because this is a "defeat the wave" ribbon, don't
bother with any Return to Sender blue shields.
Wave 4
Enemies: 4x soldiers, 2x armored volley gunners
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using only machine guns or the crank gun
Discussion: I don't know where on earth you would get a crank gun this
early on, but the rest of this match should be fairly easy. Just duck
behind cover to avoid the volley gun attacks and you should be fine.
Wave 5
Enemies: 1x Handyman
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using only the pistol and hand cannon
Discussion: Hand cannon is probably your best bet. Jump on and off the
skyline to put distance between you and the Handyman and let off a few
shots as he tries to jump towards you. Note that using any assisting
Vigor (e.g. you might initially want to use Murder of Crows or
Undertow) _will_ cause you to fail the Blue Ribbon challenge, so keep
your finger off the use vigor key.
Wave 6
Enemies: 4x soldiers, 2x armored rpg soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave without picking up weapons or looting corpses
Discussion: Might be hard the first time you do this since you may be
trying to scoop up resources, but by the time you are modestly upgraded
this should pose no problem for you.
Wave 7
Enemies: 3x soldiers, 2x snipers, 1x Zealots
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies using only zoomable weapons while they are
zoomed
Discussion: I have two words for you: sniper rifle. That being said,
both the hand cannon and shotgun are easily zoomed into for close
combat without seriously disrupting your aim. Just zoom in, let off a
shot or two, and then zoom out. Return to Sender's primary effect will
help grease the wheels here.
Wave 8
Enemies: 2x Zealots, 2x volley gunners
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies using only Tears; Possession Traps; and
Return to Sender traps
Discussion: Careful! An enemy that is possessed and shoots another enemy
to death will cause you to fail the challenge. Unless you're sure that
the enemy/enemies you are about to hit with a Possession Trap are far
away from any other enemy, don't bother with it. Similarly, Return to
Sender traps are only traps if someone actually runs into one, not if
you throw it and it detonates. In short, your best bet is to just rely
on the various environmental hazards you can bring in via Tears.
Wave 9
Enemies: 5x soldiers, 1x Handyman
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies without ever hitting anyone in the head or
the heart
Discussion: My recommendation is to use weapons that have a wide area of
damage and thus able to hit enemies with splash damage without risking
a head or heart shot. I've had a lot of luck using the heater and the
RPG. Also, if you're so inclined, shoot the Handyman at the very
beginning; you may outrage him in a way where he kills a few enemies
for you (which won't be headshots).
Wave 10
Enemies: 4x soldiers, 1x siren
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Siren before she performs a resurrection
Discussion: Wield a fully-upgraded Hail Fire and get yourself a
fully-upgraded Charge Vigor. Equip Burning Halo for good measure. As
soon as the wave starts, jump off from the ledge and Charge the shade
of Lady Comstock. As soon as you connect, mash your fire button as
fast as you can to lay off as many Hail Fire projectiles as possible.
When you reload, Charge again and resume your punishment. You should
finish her off before she completes a resurrection. The rest of the
wave is fairly straightforward after that.
Wave 11
Enemies: 2x soldiers, 1x Fireman, 1x Patriot
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave without using Sky-Lines or Hook-points.
Discussion: Straightforward, the only hard part is just having to suppress
your habit/instict of trying to ride away from combat on a sky-line.
Wave 12
Enemies: 2x Firemen, 2x Zealots
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave within 1:15
Discussion: Do the ol' undertow grab and push and you'll be done. A bit
harder against the Zealots, but you can easily lure them right next to
you on the railing just by virtue of their tendency to try to teleport
next to you. Once they appear, blast them off the edge of the map.
Wave 13
Enemies: 2x Firemen, 1x Handymen
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using only weapons fired from a Sky-Line or
Sky-Line strikes.
Discussion: For weapons, go with the RPG, as it's a really idiot-proof way
to take out tougher foes who can't be easily finished off by a sky-line
strike.
Wave 14
Enemies: 2x armored soldiers, 2x snipers, 1x Zealot
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using only Shock Jockey and Headshots
Discussion: This challenge is a lot easier with an upgraded Shock Jockey
as you can chain the effect and have a lot more time to carefully aim
up that headshot. Also: sniper rifle!
If you're still having problems consistently getting headshots, you
can do the entire wave just with Shock Jockey. Just sail across your
starting position via sky-line to the area above the resurrection
office door, hide inside the building and set a lot of Shock Jockey
traps. Let all your enemies come to you and just keep laying Shock
Jockey traps. So long as Elizabeth replenishes your Salt once and you
have Blood to Salt equipped you should be set.
Wave 15
Enemies: 1x Patriot, 2x Handymen
Blue Ribbon: Defeat each enemy with a different Vigor type.
Discussion: Destroy the patriot with Undertow. Weaken the other handymen
until they are close to being destroyed, then kill one with Devil's
Kiss explosions and then kill the other with Charge.
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Duke and Dimwitt Theater !are,duk-
Wave 1
Enemies: 5x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with the Shotgun
Discussion: Don't use any supporting Vigor other than Return to Sender's
primary effect; you'll fail the challenge. Other than that, pick up
the nearby shotgun from the tear (if you don't have one), fire a shot
in the air to alert everyone, then hustle around the platform you are
on. Three soldiers will skyline to you, kill them. Then get on the
skyline and head towards the right building (away from the Mosquito).
Dismount, kill the RPG soldier and normal soldier there (using Return
to Sender as protection if necessary). Then sky-line to the other
building and finish off the other two enemies, using cover to avoid the
Mosquito.
Wave 2
Enemies: 6x Soldiers, 1x Fireman, 1x Zealot, 1x Patriot
Blue Ribbon: Defeat two enemies with a possessed Patriot
Discussion: Wait a bit for the first zeppelin to appear, then use an
alternate effect Possession on the patriot; blasting him with a follow
up Shock Jockey may speed things along. You may need to do this again
after a second zeppelin shows up since even at 10 seconds the
Possession duration may not be long enough to kill two foes.
Wave 3
Enemies: 6x Firemen
Blue Ribbon: Force 3 Firemen to self-destruct while airborne from Bucking
Bronco or Undertow
Discussion: Easy, especially if Bucking Bronco is fully upgraded. Just
stay where you are, pulling a fireman up with Undertow just to get
things started. Just keep unleashing Bucking Broncos and firing away
with your weapon of choice until they die (which counts as a
self-destruct).
Wave 4
Enemies: 9x soldiers, 2x volley gunners
Blue Ribbon: Damage 5 enemies with Vigor traps.
Discussion: Easiest way I've done this is to immediately lay a bunch of
Shock Jockey traps around me and let everyone come to me. As soon as
they trigger a trap and are shocked you can finish them off, just keep
replenishing your traps and eventually five different foes will be hit
by your traps.
Wave 5
Enemies: 3x soldiers, 3x snipers
Blue Ribbon: Complete the wave in under 0:45
Discussion: Immediately hop on a sky-line to do some sky-line attacks on
the two snipers, one on each building. Hop off and go on a sky-line
circuit, the third sniper will appear on the right building (when you
face it); jump off and kill them too. Hopefully by this time, the
other three soldiers have been following you about on the skyline; find
your suitable means for dispatching them, a disabling Vigor and a hard
hitting weapon work well.
Wake 6
Enemies: 1x Handyman
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Handyman while he's electrocuting a Sky-Line
Discussion: Self-explanatory, if tedious. Weaken him with other sources
of damage, then just ride around the sky-line until you hear the
tell-tale "brzzzzz" sound of him starting to electrocute the sky-lines,
then hop off and let off a shot or two. Rinse and repeat until he's
dead.
Wave 7
Enemies: 8x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers, 1x Patriots
Blue Ribbon: Defeat five enemies with Undertow
Discussion: Super easy if you have Undertow Aid. Remember that pulling
them into a trap doesn't count, so pull some foes in and blast them off
your ship. Even if you don't have Undertow Aid, you probably will be
able to just blast the first batch of enemies off the gunship, which is
five for the Blue Ribbon challenge.
Wave 8
Enemies: 1x soldiers, 2x volley gunners
Blue Ribbon: Defeat 2 enemies with a Possessed rocket turret
Discussion: That barrage automaton is what the game here counts as a
"rocket turret." Get close to the gunships and fire some shots to get
the enemies off the ship, possess the turret and just run around the
map, periodically using Shock Jockey to keep enemies still for the
turret to hit.
Wave 9
Enemies: 5x soldiers, 1x Zealot, 2x Patriots
Blue Ribbon: Defeat every enemy with a different weapon or Vigor
Discussion: Can be straightforward provided you keep all the gotchas from
section imp,blu- in mind. There are some Tears for alternate weapons
and don't forget to pick up a crank gun from a fallen Patriot to help
round out the eight different methods of mayhem you need to use.
Wave 10
Enemies: 6x soldiers, 2x volley gunners
Blue Ribbon: Complete the wave using only Charge, Return to Sender, and
Shotguns
Discussion: Depending on your Gear you may fail the challenge if you try
to Charge. Don't take any chances, just walk around with the Return to
Sender blue shield and pump away with your shotgun.
Wave 11
Enemies: 7x soldiers, 1x Patriot
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Patriot with a possessed enemy
Discussion: Try using Undertow to grab three foes, one of them the
Patriot. This will have the side effect of weakening the Patriot.
Then use Possession on one of the humanoids and Shock Jockey (after
Undertow wears off) to keep the other two in check. If this doesn't
work, bring in another humanoid. This may be Salt intensive, so
hopefully you've upgraded your Salts a bit by now.
Wave 12
Enemies: 6x soldiers, 2x snipers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with Vigor traps
Discussion: So long as you remember the finicky rules about traps (see
section imp,blu-) you should be set here. Because the enemies have to
jump from gunship to gunship, so long as you stay one gunship away and
prepare a trap for those who want to jump at you, the ribbon should
take care of itself. You should try to be prompt about it because
enemies have an annoying tendency in this wave to accidentally shoot
each other, triggering a Friendly Fire and causing you to fail.
Wave 13
Enemies: 6x soldiers, 1x volley gunners
Blue Ribbon: Defeat 5 enemies with a single Devil's Kiss blast
Discussion: There are two good ways to go about this. The first is to
Charge the enemy you see on top of the gazebo and then use Murder of
Crows to weaken everyone, then tossing a Devil's Kiss trap in a central
location of all the flailing foes. The second is to use Undertow to
pull everyone off (you'll need to do it at least twice provided you can
grab a full complement of three each time) the gazebo and do a similar
thing. Do note that you may have issues getting the game to register
that you killed everyone in one Devil's Kiss blast; I believe the extra
grenades from Devil's Kiss Mod do not count for this, hence the
suggestion for using a trap (which has a wider area of effect and deals
more damage).
Wave 14
Enemies: 4x soldiers, 1x Handyman
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Handyman with a Tesla Coil
Discussion: Basically, just summon up the Tesla Coil outside of the gazebo
(between the two buildings) and lure in the Handyman. You may want to
do a few initial shots just to weaken him, but then just run circles
around the tesla coil (keeping it between you and him) and eventually
the Handyman will die. As for the soldiers, well you can clear them
out at the beginning but hopefully the Handyman takes care of a few of
them for you.
Wave 15
Enemies: 10x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Complete the wave in under 1:30
Discussion: Race up the gunships, using Undertow to knock foes away, until
you can get on to the zeppelin. Run in and disable the engine, using
Return to Sender as protection. As soon as you pop back out, the
zeppelin will be treated as "destroyed" and anyone still in there will
be treated as having died by freefall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raven's Dome !are,rav-
The office door is located inside a little crummy building on the least-opulent
looking platform on this map (i.e. not the park or the fancy villa).
Wave 1
Enemies: 6x soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with the Sky-Hook melee
Discussion: Like all similar challenges, this is a walk in the park. If
you really have any troubles, there's always the Return to Sender blue
shield.
Wave 2
Enemies: 7x soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with the pistol
Discussion: Hide behind the cabin on the gunship you start off on and use
Undertow to repeatedly bring in foes whom you then just plow away with
a (preferably) fully-upgraded pistol.
Wave 3
Enemies: 5x soldiers, 2x volley gunners
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies using only the Undertow Vigor
Discussion: Similar to wave #2, except now you have to just blast them off
with Undertow instead of shooting them. This may only be easily
possible if Undertow is fully upgraded (so you can get three at once
instead of one).
Wave 4
Enemies: 5x soldiers, 1x RPG soldier, 1x Zealot
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with Vigor traps
Discussion: So long as you pay attention to the gotcha that a trap kill
only is a trap kill if an enemy triggers it _after_ its deployment via
proximity, this shouldn't be that hard. Note that for Devil's Kiss, if
an enemy is close enough to the trap but not close enough to trigger
it, you can shoot the trap and the ensuing explosion will be big enough
to ensnare the foe.
Wave 5
Enemies: 3x soldiers, 1x Handyman
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Handyman before any other enemy
Discussion: With the hail fire you can drop a vulnerable Handyman in
fairly quick order.
Wave 6
Enemies: 6x soldiers, 1x Patriot
Blue Ribbon: Defeat 5 enemies via friendly fire
Discussion: Possession counts as friendly fire (even suicide), so
repeatedly spamming the Vigor should take care of this for you.
Wave 7
Enemies: 1x soldiers, 2x snipers, 1x Zealot, 2x volley gunners
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Volley Gunner and the Zealot before damaging any
snipers
Discussion: Undertow is a great way to isolate and kill (via blast) the
non-sniper enemies without exposing yourself to much danger or
accidental collateral damage on a sniper.
Wave 8
Enemies: 6x soldiers, 1x RPG soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with turrets or environmental hazards
Discussion: Head over to the park and bring in the tesla coil and
basically just run circles around it. It'll be sufficient to (slowly)
kill everyone on the map. Use Return to Sender if you need the
protection.
Wave 9
Enemies: 1x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers, 3x Firemen
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies in 60 seconds using Vigors only.
Discussion: Just stay on the gunship at the start and use the ol' Undertow
pull and blast to clear this wave quickly.
Wave 10
Enemies: 5x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers, 1x Firemen
Blue Ribbon: Take no damage for 30 seconds.
Discussion: Even damage that is absorbed by Return to Sender still counts
as taking damage, so bring in a decoy or turret and head for cover.
Note that if you're fast about ducking for cover at the start, no one
will notice you, so that can be a quick way to get the ribbon.
Wave 11
Enemies: 2x soldiers, 1x RPG soldiers, 2x volley gunners, 1x Fireman
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with the Shotgun
Discussion: Unlike other similar waves, you are _not_ allowed to use
anything other than a shotgun (in effect, this Blue Ribbon challenge is
"Defeat the wave"), so don't even bother with Return to Sender's blue
shield unless you want to fail.
Wave 12
Enemies: 6x soldiers, 2x Firemen
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave without picking up weapons or looting corpses
Discussion: Fairly straightforward.
Wave 13
Enemies: 2x snipers, 2x Patriots
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies while they are distracted with a Booker
decoy tear
Discussion: Use Undertow to bring in enemies (preferably in small batches)
near the park balcony where the Decoy is. Bring in the Decoy and while
they are looking/aiming/shooting at it, blast them off the edge with
Undertow (blasting will also kill Patriots through electrocution).
Wave 14
Enemies: 6x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat each enemy with the same weapon-type it wields
Discussion: Just repeatedly spam Possession to get people to suicide and
you're done.
Wave 15
Enemies: 2x Firemen, 1x Handymen
Blue Ribbon: Defeat each enemy with a different weapon
Discussion: Self-explanatory; remember to switch out your weapons when
needed to get distinct kills. Best to start off with some huge weapons
to help you take out the handyman. If you're lucky, the handyman will
take out the Firemen for you, which won't break the challenge but make
this easier.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emporia Arcade !are,emp-
The office is located on the side of the map that looks like a gigantic burning
building, on the bottom level off to the right (when you look at it directly).
Wave 1
Enemies: 7x soldiers, 2x Patriots
Blue Ribbon: Defeat an enemy affected by Bucking Bronco with a possessed
Motorized Patriot
Discussion: Rather annoying, actually. Best bet is to weaken an enemy,
Undertow-pull a full-strength patriot to you (or else the patriot might
die), Bucking Bronco the weakened enemy, hit the patriot with a normal
Possession, and then repeatedly alternate between Bucking Bronco and
Possession until the patriot kills the enemy (you will have to keep
hitting the patriot with Possession to prevent the duration from
wearing off as otherwise the patriot wastes a second or two staggering
at the start of a possession).
Wave 2
Enemies: 6x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat two enemies who are riding Sky-Lines with traps
Discussion: There's a spot on the sky-line where it goes _underneath_ a
bridge. Ride it there, then set up a Possession or Devil's Kiss trap
and wait for someone to ride by (you may need to get back on the
sky-line yourself, as simply waiting under the bridge may tempt enemies
into jumping off while they're dying from the triggered trap, thus not
counting as a sky-line death). Rinse and repeat.
Wave 3
Enemies: 9x soldiers, 2x volley gunners
Blue Ribbon: Defeat wave with hazards or support brought in through tears
Discussion: I have no idea what exactly the developers are talking about
with this Blue Ribbon challenge because as far as I can tell the only
thing that you can use to kill enemies in this map is the Tesla Coil in
the center. There aren't any hazards and all the other tears that
provide weapons or a sky-hook will force you to fail if you kill anyone
with them. So, be prepared for a rather tedious fight (the volley
gunners in particular take a long time to die from the Tesla Coil).
You might want a weakish weapon to weaken enemies (but not kill them)
while they're being zapped (a shot or two from a pistol or machine gun
would do it).
Wave 4
Enemies: 6x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using a different weapon or Vigor on every
enemy.
Discussion: Another straightforward Blue Ribbon so long as you keep all
the gotchas in imp,blu- in mind. Note that since you're facing RPG
soldiers, you might not want to bring in an RPG since you'll be able to
switch out for one in mid-fight, to help you round out the different
deaths.
Wave 5
Enemies: 2x Handymen
Blue Ribbon: Defeat both Handymen while they are electrocuting a Sky-Line
Discussion: Enter with an RPG (or a Hail Fire if you think you can get the
distance down for what I'm about to suggest). Weaken both Handymen
(they sometimes will just stand on the roof of a building). Then equip
all the good sky-line Gear you have (Death from Above, mainly), then
ride the sky-line all the way to the top of the big building and wait
there above the main platform. Eventually a Handyman will jump up
there. Ride the sky-line slowly away from the balcony, prompting the
Handyman to jump up to try to electrocute the sky-line. Immediately
fire as much as you can (you have enough time for two RPG shots or
almost a clip of a Hail Fire). Hopefully the Handyman dies; if not,
immediately jump back on to the balcony, pop a Return to Sender bubble
for protection (since you're now within five feet of a Handyman with
your only escape route electrified), and then when the electrocution
ends, rinse and repeat.
Wave 6
Enemies: 3x soldiers, 4x snipers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies using only the Shotgun
Discussion: An easy one, thank god. Keep Return to Sender's shield up and
plow away at people.
Wave 7
Enemies: 5x soldiers, 3x Firemen
Blue Ribbon: Defeat two enemies with the Fireman's suicide attack.
Discussion: Use Undertow to pull in a Fireman and two other foes. Fire
away at the Fireman (and a few shots at the others to weaken them) and
if you don't kill him, immediately set off a Murder of Crows attack
(Shock Jockey is a bad idea because you might accidentally hit them
while they're still wet from Undertow, killing everyone. Similarly,
Bucking Bronco is a bad idea because every shot at the Fireman will
push him far away from the people you want to kill with his suicide.)
When the Fireman dies, he should take out the two other guys you
pulled. If not, try again with a different Fireman.
Wave 8
Enemies: 4x soldiers, 1x RPG soldiers, 2x Patriots
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave within 1:20
Discussion: The ol' Undertow pull-and-blast. You may need to run down
from your current location to the lower terrace, to make sure you're
close enough to grab everyone as well as be able to push people off the
map.
Wave 9
Enemies: 5x soldiers, 1x RPG soldiers, 1x Patriots, 1x Siren
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Siren before destroying the zeppelin
Discussion: Inside the zeppelin there's a Siren waiting for you. Just
toss a bunch of Devil's Kiss traps and you should finish her quickly
enough. Be warned that if you don't finish her quickly enough, she'll
leave the zeppelin, which will make this wave far more annoying since
you'll then have to hunt her down.
Wave 10
Enemies: 15x soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies using only the sniper rifle
Discussion: Hope your sniper rifle is fully upgraded so you have a decent
fire rate. Just leave Return to Sender's blue shield on to absorb
melee blows while you run circles around everyone and hip-shoot them.
Wave 11
Enemies: 2x Handymen
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies while they are distracted with a Booker
decoy tear
Discussion: An incredibly tedious wave. I'd say come in with a Hand
Cannon for your finisher, since it has high damage and there's no risk
that you'll accidentally hit and prematurely kill a Decoy like you
could with a weapon with area of effect (RPG, Shotgun, etc). Weaken
the Handymen however you seem appropriate. Then spend the next
interminable amount of time hopping from one bridge to another; bring
in a Decoy, wait for a Handyman to land and charge it, and let off
_one_ shot with your Hand Cannon. You don't want to do a second
because there's the terrible chance that by the time your second shot
impacts the Handyman, it will have destroyed the Decoy and be no longer
distracted.
Wave 12
Enemies: 5x soldiers, 2x zealots, 2x Patriots
Blue Ribbon: Defeat all Soldiers and Zealots with Bucking Bronco; followed
by Charge
Discussion: Self-explanatory, but you really need Charge Aid (for the
shield regen) to make this easy to do.
Wave 13
Enemies: 15x soldiers [2x w/pistol, 2x w/hand cannon, 5x w/shotgun, 6x
w/machine gun]
Blue Ribbon: Defeat each enemy with the same weapon-type it wields.
Discussion: the Possession trick that worked in Raven's Dome wave 14
doesn't work here. Come in wielding a pistol and hand cannon as you
can find a machine gun and shotgun on the first boat. Use Return to
Sender to provide you protection while you make sure you're killing the
right guys. Careful that friendly fire doesn't get your foes.
Wave 14
Enemies: 1x Handyman
Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Handyman with a Motorized Patriot tear
Discussion: Weaken the Handyman, then bring in the Patriot while
constantly disabling the handyman with Murder of Crows.
Wave 15
Enemies: 1x Siren plus corposes for soldiers
Blue Ribbon: Knock 4 corpses off of Columbia before the Siren can
resurrect them.
Discussion: At least for me, I completed the challenge as soon as this
wave started as a glitch, possibly because other foes I had Undertow-ed
away in previous waves were being counted. Anyway, if you don't get
this glitch, just run to where the gun ships are appearing and just
Undertow the bodies off as they fall.
===============================================================================
===============================================================================
Appendix !app-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
History !app,his-
2013.08.15 - v 1.2 (minor)
imp,blu-: adding note that pulling someone into a trap via Undertow counts
as a trap kill.
2013.08.08 - v 1.1
General copy fixes.
Adding a stinger.
Changing "other works" to "all works" to simplify my life.
imp,blu-: specific advice for "...with/using a different weapon or
Vigor..."
imp,vig-: more notes.
imp,wea-: fleshing out.
imp,gea-: new section.
are,rav-: not allowed to use anything other than shotgun for wave 11.
2013.08.06 - v 1.0
Initial release. Still missing some data, but important to get out there.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All Works !app,all-
1999 Mode Guide (Bioshock Infinite)
Clash in the Clouds Guide (Bioshock Infinite: Clash in the Clouds DLC)
Heart of Fury Guide (Icewind Dale 2)
Party Creation Guide (Baldur's Gate)
Party Creation Guide (Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition)
Populous II Guide (Populous II)
Thief Guide (Baldur's Gate 2)
Ultimate Analysis (System Shock 2)
Ultimate Oblivion FAQ (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)
===============================================================================
===============================================================================
The Stinger!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In the end, it was music that proved therapeutic and grounded his
thoughts. A middle C vibrates at 262 Hz, no matter what the universe."
- Rosalind Lutece
===============================================================================
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